CHEAT SHEET FOR DELEGATES OF UNESCO

Topic: Promoting gender equality in STEM

1. Current situation:

2. Causes and effects of gender inequality in STEM:

- Stereotypes in domestic, educational and work environments → gender-linked
activities, choice of career, unfair marking, lack of female representation in
teaching materials, barriers to promotion → discourages women from taking
part in STEM activities → further gender-related disproportion.
- Lack of access to STEM activities.
- Safety concerns in workplaces.
3. Benefits of gender inequality in STEM:
- Increased accuracy in STEM research.
- Increased GDP and lower unemployment rate.

4. Existing solutions and policies:

- World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995) → the Gender Advisory Board
of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology (UNCSTD) in
1996.
- STEM and Gender Advancement (SAGA) project launched by UNESCO:
pinpoint trends related to gender equality in STEM → help countries improve
policies.
- “Gender in science, innovation, technology and engineering” initiative
(GenderInSITE): information, tools, and resources, along with
awareness-raising campaigns in Africa, and Latin America & the Carribean.
- Gender, Institution and Development Database (GID-DB) by OECD: track
gender inequality → amend policies.
 - The European Centre for Women and Technology: raising awareness,
researching, providing information, training programs, and providing a
community where women can pursue and flourish in STEM fields.
- The FAWE STEM model designed by the ​Forum for African Women
Educationalists (FAWE) in 2005: improving girls’ test scores in STEM
subjects, and upgrading teaching materials for STEM subjects to build positive
and gender responsive attitudes. The model has been endorsed by many
national, regional and global stakeholders and implemented in 13 African
nations. Since 2015, Microsoft Africa has partnered with FAWE to produce
the DigiGirlz series with the aim of teaching girls about modern coding
technology, which has also received support and participation from many
African countries.

5. Bloc positions/Key players:

- Large STEM gender gaps:
+ Asia and the Pacific.
+ Sub-Saharan Africa.
+ Western Europe
- Countries with gender parity/small gender gap in STEM
+ Central Asia
+ Central and Eastern Europe
+ Latin America and the Caribbean

6. Suggested solutions
- Raising awareness of gender inequality in STEM.
- Promotes gender-sensitive curriculum, promotes women’s importance and
female role models in STEM education, and encourages young female
students to participate in educational activities relating to STEM.
- Expands access to STEM education for female students of financially difficult
and gender discriminating backgrounds.
- Child-care facilities, flexible working hours, maternity leave, and postpartum
training and re-entry → work-life balance for women.
- Protects women against career hazards in the workplace & addresses their
rights to report in case of injustice, harassment, or abuse.